Hungary and Poland Tighten Grip on ‘National Narratives’

In this modified history, critics say Orban has cast himself as saviour of a pure nation steeped in Christian values but besieged by external threats: migrants, Muslims, liberal ideologues.

For the story to be believable, academic, educational and cultural institutions have to play along.

"Orban practically announced that the task of the new parliamentary session was to take over the national narrative, to change the cultural course and the political history that produces it in a way beneficial for his government," said Peter Kreko, director of Budapest-based think tank Political Capital.

"This means putting the institutions that manufacture this knowledge under control."

All countries have national narratives but few governments in Europe have gone as far as Hungary in seeking to shape the plot. Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party appears, however, to be seeking a similar grip on the manufacturers of knowledge.

In Hungary, the most egregious example of trying to control the message is a recent move to put the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) under the thumb of the prime minister.

A bill passed in July will hand the 15 research institutes controlled by the country's oldest scientific institute to the newly founded Eotvos Lorand Research Network, a government-controlled body.

The government claims the move was needed to improve research and development. Despite recent progress, Hungary lags most of its EU peers in innovation rankings. 

It will allow the government to "promote research that contributes to Hungary's economic growth and overall development … that turns knowledge into tangible results," government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs wrote in a blog. He also hinted that funding levels for the 15 research...